World handball plans hang in balance

GAELIC GAMES NEWS:HOPES THAT the GAA would be able to stage the World Handball championships at Croke Park hang in the balance as local objections threaten to derail a proposed redeveloped handball centre.

According to Croke Park Stadium Director Peter McKenna, work would have to begin on the project by November at the latest and at present there is local opposition to the plans, with over 40 objections lodged against the planning application.

“We need to have a centre for the 2012 world championships,” he said. “It’s probably our most successful international sport. We have 68 world champions and there’s a very strong possibility that it will be an Olympic sport in 2016. We plan to spend €9 million, which is a massive investment, and employ about 250.

“But if it hasn’t got the go-ahead by late November that investment will have to be made elsewhere. Otherwise it won’t be ready in time for 2012.”

It was confirmed yesterday by Eamon O’Brien, chair of the Croke Park Streets Committee Association (CPSCA, established specifically to oppose the handball plans) that the matter would be brought to An Bórd Pleanála should permission be granted by Dublin county council. That would almost certainly delay the issue beyond the target deadline.

The CPSCA has been spear-heading opposition to the proposal, claiming that the plans amount to an elimination of the community centre that has existed in the current handball premises behind Croke Park and the entire process was undertaken without consulting the local Handball and Community Centre.

McKenna disagrees with this.

“Christy Cooney and I met with community representatives, including 50 or 60 members in the handball centre, in advance of submitting plans to Dublin county council. We are happy to sit down with anyone at any stage.”

But O’Brien maintains that the meeting was merely going through the motions.

“What they did was present the plans almost exactly as they are in the drawings for Dublin City Council. They presented them – not to 50, to about 35 people – and delivered them as a fait accompli. The only change the GAA made was to provide an area, which is only a fraction of the area provided in the current centre, for community activities like dancing and martial arts. This was in response to a charge made by a former handballer that he had ‘ethical problems’.”

McKenna says that Croke Park has no issue with maintaining facilities for community activities but says that he has yet to receive proposals from the CPSCA.

“We are aware of the need for community facilities in the centre and will incorporate them in the new building. We have asked for a list of facilities to be incorporated. Our preference is that the final submission reflects a consensus but it’s very hard to get a consensus when we’re not getting any feedback. We had been expecting to get that on Tuesday.”

O’Brien says it has taken time to formulate a response but he hopes to have a finalised document ready by “the middle of next week”.

“We’ll be working . . . over this weekend to come up with what we consider a win-win situation for everybody. We’re not going to pre-empt anything by setting out our plans but will put together a proper document that we will deliver to the GAA.

“They (the GAA) were expecting it by Tuesday but you have to bear in mind they’ve been a couple of years putting together this proposal so we’ve got about 10 days to respond and, if it’s worthwhile, we’ve got to do it right.”

A number of handball-based arguments have been levelled against the proposed development, including that it subordinates the more traditional 60x30 game to the 40x20 format. But at the weekend delegates at the annual Handball Association congress in Tipperary supported the development without objection.

One of the major bones of contention has been the proposal to do away with the bar facilities in the centre. “There’s no bar facility, no club facility,” according to O’Brien. “The last time the GAA tried to close down the bar (a licence dispute in 2005) we’d the Vincent de Paul complaining that old people had nowhere to go. It’s a huge social culture. That’s a big issue in the area.”

McKenna says that a licensed premises is not appropriate for a state-of-the-art sports centre and that such a facility would be better located in the new community centre purpose built by the GAA for locals just under 10 years ago.

He also says that the intention not to maintain a bar facility undermines another allegation by CPSCA, that the new development is simply a way of expanding Croke Park’s conference facilities by the provision of a 1400-seater amphitheatre.

“I know that it’s being said that we’re trying to build a huge convention centre but that’s not even listed as a potential use in our application and we have no plans to use it for that. We have extensive and fully kitted-out conference facilities in the stadium and there would be very expensive, acoustic issues in building a conference auditorium in a handball centre.

“Also, we are criticised for not planning to maintain the centre as a licensed premises but that’s pretty strong evidence that we’re not planning to use it as a conference centre, where you’d have to have bar facilities.”

Both parties say that they are anxious to secure an accommodation.